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The education system would fall over without many hours of teacher
overtime. How long until this goodwill is withdrawn?

This article is from the UK; however it sure
applies to New Zealand, and, I suspect, to many

Colin Harris - former primary principal

other countries as well.

‘There is no doubt that the vast majority of teachers do far more
work than they are either contracted or paid to do. Recent BBC research showed
that the average primary class teacher, if there is such a thing, worked 59
hours per week. If we consider that only 20 hours of this time is actually in
front of a class, then it means a phenomenal amount of time is spent on
preparation or marking or taking on the many additional responsibilities a
class teacher now has.’

‘Karen did have very clear expectations, communicated effectively
and upheld relentlessly in an admirable fashion. But somehow these
expectations, the clearest manifestation of what Karen’s classroom was like, seemed
to be standing in the way of creating a culture of thinking. How could that be?
Why would having such clear expectations for students’ behavior and performance
inhibit their development as thinkers?’

‘Alas, too many parents, teachers, and
managers persist in treating people like pets, offering the equivalent of a
doggie biscuit to children, students, and employees in an effort to get them to
jump through hoops. (Rewards are tools used by people with more power on those
with less.) The more familiar you are with the mountain of research on this
topic, the more depressed you’ll be to find, for example, that schools continue
to rely on Skinnerian programs such as PBIS, Class Dojo, Accelerated Reader,
and the like. It’s not just that they’re manipulative, or
even that they’re ultimately unsuccessful. It’s that they’re actively harmful.’

Online courses are praised for their potential to make education
accessible to everyone—but they’re leaving students behind.

Think harder Hekia

So much for the latest brainwave from New
Zealand’s Minister of Education …

“The same factors that have held back low-income or minority
students in physical classrooms also plague virtual ones. Studies have found
that online-learning resources had trouble attracting low-income students—or,
in the case of school-age children, their parents—and that those who did
participate in online classes performed more poorly than their peers.”

‘Over the last decades, research in education and child development
indicates that the factory model is based on several faulty
assumptions. It assumes that learning can be measured by standardized tests,
and that all children will learn at the same rate and in the same manner. This
is just not true. The fact that children learn best when something is
meaningful, enjoyable and interesting for them is ignored. The importance of
learning in groups and from slightly older children is also not
considered relevant.’

‘In today's world, the skillsets of cognitive flexibility are more
critical and valuable than ever before. These skillsets include:Open-minded
evaluation of different opinions, perspectives, and points of view.Willingness
to risk mistakes.Consideration of multiple ways to solve problems.Engagement in
learning, discovery, and problem solving with innovative creativity.’

‘Since the dawn of human art-making, the divide has been clear:
There are people who caneffortlessly sketch an object's likeness, and people
who struggle for hours just to get the angles and proportions right (by which
point the picture is scarred by eraser marks, anyway). What separates the
drawers from the drawer-nots?’

‘In the 20th century creativity as valued in society as it is
today.It wasn’t important for landing a job, nor was it crucial for building a
successful business; the industrial revolution did emerge thanks to some
creative out-of-the-box thinking, but it was hard graft and monotonous work
that kept it alive and thriving.Skip forward to 2016 and creativity is a highly
prized trait. No longer can you depend on conventional thinking to get you by
in life; modern society demands ever more creative and innovation solutions —
and you’re students can be the ones to provide them.’

Our children aren't ready for class, so we are 'worldschooling' them
instead

'Worldschooling'

‘Over a decade later, I can answer my own question unhesitatingly:
my daughter, like thousands of others her age, is simply not ready for the
pressures of formal schooling. On first teaching a Year One class, I was
shocked and had a crisis of integrity: it felt wrong to expect all these
five-year-olds to read and write when they were clearly programmed for play.’

‘The capacity of the brain is infinite. Lucky for most of us so
called 'normal' people our brains suppress, or filter out, most of the
information coming our way but for the savants their brains take in everything
in their particular sphere of interest without interference. It is as if they
have no ‘delete’ button; their mind, like a ‘google’ search, recalls
everything! And as a result they miss out on capacities such as social and
practical skills that we all take for granted.’

‘By the age five, when children arrive in elementary schools, they
have evolved definite selves.....they have their passionate interests,
concerns, topics,humour; a style that is theirs'.In other words their own
personal curriculum for teachers to tap into , amplify and challenge.
Unfortunately, even from a very early age this curriculum is subsumed by topics
teachers want to study with their class. Nothing wrong with this but it ought
not be at the expense of children's interests and concerns. Eventually teacher
imposed curriculums lead to the disengagement of many older students.’

‘I wish there was a magic wand to get this message of authentic
inquiry learning into all schools and into all teachers' heads around the
country, and beyond them, our politicians. Sadly I fear we are losing the
battle, bit by bit. The rot set in during the 1990s and seems to be spreading,
in spite of the best intentions of the New Zealand Curriculum. I guess it
hasn't helped having 'standards' imposed upon schools to meet yet to be
announced political agendas. I used the quote marks, deliberately as labelling
these vague statements as 'standards' is an oxymoron of the highest degree.
Setting 'standards' aside, why are schools and teachers not taking advantage of
the NZC?’